1. Technical Field
The present invention relates, generally, to data display systems and, more particularly, to methods for real-time display and editing of aircraft navigation and flight-planning data.
2. Background Information
Electronic instrumentation displays continue to advance in sophistication, achieving increasingly higher levels of information density and, consequently, presenting a greater amount of visual information to be perceived and understood by the operator. In many applications, it is critical that visual displays provide a proper cognitive mapping between what the operator is trying to achieve and the information available to accomplish the task. As a result, such systems increasingly utilize human-factor design principles in order to build instrumentation and controls that work cooperatively with human operators.
One area in particular that has experienced an increase in display complexity is the field of electronic flight system instrumentation. Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has promulgated a number of standards and advisory circulars relating to flight instrumentation. More particularly, Title 14 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 25, Sec. 25.1321 et seq. provides guidelines for arrangement and visibility of instruments, warning lights, indicators, and the like. Similarly, detailed guidelines related to electronic displays can be found in FAA Advisory Circular 20-88A, Guidelines on the Marking of Aircraft Powerplant Instruments (September 1985).
As instrument panel space is limited, achieving these goals can be quite difficult for designers faced with presenting a large amount of information within a relatively small space. As a result, cockpit displays tend to be populated with numerous, non-intuitive icons and symbols, and without the benefit of terrain, obstruction, political boundaries, and other useful display data. Methods are therefore needed in order to overcome these and other limitations of the prior art.